Jessica Bannon, Feline Hero
by lightwarai
Summary: Being a hero is just her nature.. even if it's for a kitten! Oneshot fic. Please read & review!


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Quest Team or the kitten, I guess. **

**This one was also written May 1999, quite a while ago.**

Jessica Bannon, Feline Hero

Jessica Bannon yawned. It was Friday evening, the eve of Independence Day with absolutely nothing on the TV and nothing to do. Hadji was out of the country back in Bangalore and Benton had not yet returned from a meeting in New York. That left Jonny, Race, and Jessie alone to fend for themselves. She was sprawled out on the couch, half asleep.

She was still channel surfing when Jonny burst in through the door.

"What's going on?" Jessie asked, pulling herself to a sitting position.

"There's a cat stuck up in the tree!" Jonny called over his shoulder, heading toward the garage.

Jessie jumped up and flew outside. She always hated to see an animal suffering or scared. She grabbed a flashlight and took off, following the beam of Jonny's flashlight around the side of the house. Race was already outside, a ladder resting on the ground next to the tree Jonny was pointing to.

Race glanced over at the two teenagers and motioned for them to be quiet. Jessie nodded, not wanting to scare the animal anymore. Then he pointed to a branch in the tree, shining a small beam of light.

When Jessie saw where the beam had landed, she saw a small black cat meowing quietly, its eyes glowing a yellowish-red against the artificial light. The wind picked up briefly, then quieted down. The cat continued to meow.

Concern was evident on Jonny's face. "We were going to use the ladder, but it frightened the kitten farther up the tree."

Jessie felt her heart ache at the sad, pitiful meow of the frightened kitten. Each time the wind picked up, the kitten would cry harder, gripping the branch. "He's so tiny!"

Jonny glanced at her. "Hey! Who said it was a 'he'?"

Jessie was about to retort when Race interrupted. "Hey you two. Stop it. We gotta figure out what to do about the cat."

Jessie sighed. "Call the fire department."

Jonny shook his head. "C'mon Jessie! This is no time for jokes."

Jessie just glared at him. "I'm not joking."

Race laid a hand on her shoulder. "Honey, the fire department isn't going to come all the way to the Compound just for a kitten. We're on our own."

"Well, then let me climb up the ladder."

"No can do, Ponchita. That cat is a good neck-breaking distance up." Race pointed out.

Jessie crossed her arms. "Then how do we get him down?" she asked.

Jonny opened his mouth to make another comment on the cat's gender, but Race silenced him with a look.

Suddenly, the wind gusted, blowing the branches around. The kitten let out a scared cry.

Jessie quickly shone her flashlight near the kitten, not wanting to frighten it anymore. "Poor kitty."

Jonny and Race watched as she walked closer to the tree, talking gently to the kitten, trying to calm its fears.

"C'mon sweetie. You can come down. You'll be all right. Please kitty? Just come down to the next few branches."

For twenty minutes, Race, Jonny, and Jessie tried everything to get the kitten to come down farther so one of them could climb the ladder to rescue it. But nothing worked.

Finally, Race had had enough. "C'mon guys. We need to turn it."

"NO!" Jessie protested, just as Race knew she would. "We have to get him down."

"Jess, he's too scared to come down just yet," Jonny said.

"I don't care!" Tears welled up in her eyes. "He's scared. I'm scared he's gonna fall asleep and fall off the tree branch."

Race sighed. "Honey, there's really nothing else we can do. We're going to have to wait until morning. It's too dark out to do any good."

Jessie turned and stomped inside the house. Jonny and Race looked at each other briefly and shrugged.

Jessie quietly got ready for bed, greatly upset. "There has to be something I can do!"

As she turned out the light and climbed into bed, she could hear the kitten's desperate meows for help.

She went to her window and raised the blinds. She couldn't see the kitten, but she knew it was still up in the tree.

She sat back on her bed. Jessie was pretty sure Race could hear the kitten since his bedroom window was close to the tree as well.

She got up and knocked on her father's door. "Dad? Can I come in?"

"It's open, Jess," Race answered.

Jessie walked into his room. She grinned. Race was in a pair of navy and dark green plaid shorts, towel-drying his hair. His bare muscles and chest were still dotted with water droplets.

"What's up sweetheart?" he asked, draping the towel around his shoulders, his hair sticking out in different directions.

Jessie strode across the room to his window and turned off the volume of his stereo. "Just listen."

Race crossed the room to the window. He listened, his guard up. But what he heard wasn't dangerous. On the contrary, it was the small, sad meows.

Race shook his head. "Honey, what can we do? He's too far up for a ladder to reach him. And I do not want either of you to climb that tree. It's too unstable." He hugged her to his chest. "Ponchita, we are just going to have to wait and see."

Jessie jerked away. "Fine. I'll get him down myself." She stalked out of her father's room.

Jessie quickly ran downstairs, grabbing a flashlight and a hoverboard on her way out. She ran around the house to the tree. The kitten was still up there.

Jessie flicked on her flashlight and set it down on the ground so the beam illuminated the tree from the ground. She then jumped on the hoverboard. The hoverboard elevated her a few feet off the ground. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give her the added height to jump up and reach the lowest branch.

She grabbed hold of the branch with both hands. Jessie swung her legs, gaining enough momentum to get one leg over the branch she was gripping. She dangled there for a minute to take a couple of deep breaths. The kitten still clung to its branch, meowing constantly.

"Hold on, baby," Jessie cooed softly.

Taking a deep breath, she hoisted herself to a sitting position atop the branch, one arm wrapped around the tree.

Suddenly, a shadow raised up at the base of the tree. "Jessie?"

Jessie smiled sheepishly, feeling guilty for disobeying her father. "Here, Dad."

Race shook his head. "I should have known. Honey, please be careful." He pointed his flashlight at his daughter, cringing at the branch's height.

"Don't worry, Dad." Jessie grinned. "Besides, I know you'll catch me if I fall."

"You fall and you'll be in more trouble than a cat in a dog yard."

Jessie ignored him as she focused her attention on the kitten. He was still a good ways up. She carefully climbed up, stepping lightly, testing each branch before she put her full eight on it. Finally, she made it to the kitten.

He looked at her, his huge eyes glowing from Race's flashlight. She whispered softly to him, trying not to scare him anymore as she reached for him.

"Race! Jessie! You out here?" Jonny's voice rang out.

The kitten shot farther up the tree. Jessie groaned and Race chuckled.

"Yeah, Jonny." Race called. He turned back to the kitten, the beam of his flashlight sweeping the branches, searching out the kitten.

"I see him!" Jessie began making her way farther up.

Jonny glanced up at Jessie's climbing figure, then looked at Race, whose face was grim with worry. "You're letting her go up there?"

Race kept watching Jessie as he answered. "I didn't really have much choice."

Jonny flipped on his flashlight, pointing it up at an angle that shed more light in the branches.

The two watched as Jessie reached out and gently pried the kitten's claws from the small branch, careful not to hurt it.

Jessie carefully climbed down slowly, with one hand holding the kitten. She had to stop every few branches to reposition her hold on the kitten. The climb down was like slow torture.

Finally, much to everyone's relief, she got to the last branch. Jessie hesitated. There was no way she could just jump down while holding the kitten. Then she got an idea. "Dad! Get on the hoverboard and take the kitten so I can get down!"

Race just shook his head. Jessie knew that hoverboards weren't his thing, but he was still taller than Jonny. The added height from the hoverboard allowed him to take the kitten from Jessie as she jumped down.

Minutes later, Race, Jonny, Jessie, and the kitten were safely back in the Quests' kitchen, the kitten happily lapping up some water from a small saucer.

Jessie had a triumphant smile on her face, Jonny petted the cat as he drank, and Race just shook his head. "Did I do good, Dad?" she asked.

Race nodded reluctantly. "Yes, Ponchita. But you scared me half to death."

"I know, and I'm sorry." Jessie hugged her father.

Jonny glanced up, his eyes twinkling. "So Jessie. Let's find out if this cat is a boy or girl."

Race grinned. "Do either of you know how?"

Jessie nodded, but Jonny blushed. "I AM NOT LOOKING THERE!"

Jessie and Race laughed. The kitten glanced up for a minute, then walked over to Jonny, purring as he rubbed up against his leg. Jonny picked him up, then held him out to Jessie. "You look!"

Jessie laughed, then checked. "I was right! It IS a boy!"

"Are you ever wrong?" he grumbled.

Race glanced warily at the cat. "You do know then that male cats tend to ... uh ... do their business in the wrong places, right?"

Both teens shook their heads.

Race grinned. "You also know who's going to have to clean up any messes he makes, right?"

Jonny and Jessie immediately pointed to each other.

"He's your cat, Jessie!" Jonny yelled.

"You do it or I'll pound your face in!" Jessie yelled back.

Race shook his head, and left, knowing the argument was just beginning. The little kitten followed him out into the family room. Race sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. The little kitten jumped up in his lap, and curled up into a little ball, purring happily.

Race smiled, stroking his black fur. "Well, at least you're safe now. But are you sure you want to live with those two?"

"WE HEARD THAT!"

**This was partially based on a true story. I'm a sucker for kittens, and we once found a stray stuck up in a tree. But as I've heard before... "You don't ever see a cat skeleton in a tree, do you?" Hope you enjoyed! Please review! **


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